Observe how and when your teacher closes his or her lessons and/or activities. How does he or she end each class period? Is there a set routine? If so, describe it. Pay special attention to when you teacher begins to end the class. Does he or she return to the purpose or main idea of the lesson? Does he or she "set up" the homework or the next day's activity? Is the teacher still teaching when the bell rings or are students already poised to leave? Is there some "dead time" at the end of the class period? If so, how much? How do students react to your teacher's closing strategies? Remember that these questions are a guide and that you don't have to answer each one. Be sure you reflect on your observations and describe how you will try to end your classes. What supports for these ideas might you include in your lesson plans?
Observe:
My CT expects her students to be sitting quietly by the time the bell rings because she wastes no time in getting started with her lesson. Her students know this and once that bell rings they suddenly go from "gossip" mode to "learning" mode. I also must give my CT credit because her lessons usually end only a few minutes early, no more then 5. She uses this ending time to reiterate to her students what the goal of the class period was, what they should be thinking about for next class (including HW and activities), and she also discusses project dates and reminders of important future class periods. The "dead time" is usually none existant in Mrs. Bowers classroom, however, if there is ever any "dead time" I would expect that it would be silent "dead time" (if there even is such a thing) because Mrs. Bowers would not tolerate fooling around. As far as students being "poised to leave," her students are very respectful and I rarely see them packing up before the bell rings. Mrs. Bowers knows how to keep the classes attention on her rather than the clock (something I hope to learn from her). Mrs. Bowers' classroom is always filled with ample learning opportunities that guide students to a new way of looking at science. Keeping them intrigued and busy also keeps them away from distractions and horse play. Keeping on task with the main ideas of the lesson, students always know what goals have been set for them and are usually excited to participate in the activities.
Reflection:
As stated above, there are a few things that I hope to learn from my CT during this time with her;
1. Commanding the attention of my students from start-to-end of the class period
2. Time management (always finding a way to end my lesson a few minutes early so I can go over the main ideas of the lesson and discuss future plans).
3. Always keeping students actively engaged in my lessons
As I start to think about my own classroom and what I want to accomplish, I find myself looking back to what I've seen here at North Kingstown. I want to be able to begin a lesson with an interesting hook, getting my students attention and then holding that attention until the very end of the period. I want to have the time management skills (that I know won't come easy, rather they come with experience) to plan my class to end a few minutes early, and then use those few minutes to go over the main ideas of the lesson and assess whether my students actually learned the "important" information that I wanted them to learn from my lesson. While I know that all this will not be easy, I am very willing to throw myself into my work, learning from my mistakes and correcting them as I go along.
Observe:
My CT expects her students to be sitting quietly by the time the bell rings because she wastes no time in getting started with her lesson. Her students know this and once that bell rings they suddenly go from "gossip" mode to "learning" mode. I also must give my CT credit because her lessons usually end only a few minutes early, no more then 5. She uses this ending time to reiterate to her students what the goal of the class period was, what they should be thinking about for next class (including HW and activities), and she also discusses project dates and reminders of important future class periods. The "dead time" is usually none existant in Mrs. Bowers classroom, however, if there is ever any "dead time" I would expect that it would be silent "dead time" (if there even is such a thing) because Mrs. Bowers would not tolerate fooling around. As far as students being "poised to leave," her students are very respectful and I rarely see them packing up before the bell rings. Mrs. Bowers knows how to keep the classes attention on her rather than the clock (something I hope to learn from her). Mrs. Bowers' classroom is always filled with ample learning opportunities that guide students to a new way of looking at science. Keeping them intrigued and busy also keeps them away from distractions and horse play. Keeping on task with the main ideas of the lesson, students always know what goals have been set for them and are usually excited to participate in the activities.
Reflection:
As stated above, there are a few things that I hope to learn from my CT during this time with her;
1. Commanding the attention of my students from start-to-end of the class period
2. Time management (always finding a way to end my lesson a few minutes early so I can go over the main ideas of the lesson and discuss future plans).
3. Always keeping students actively engaged in my lessons
As I start to think about my own classroom and what I want to accomplish, I find myself looking back to what I've seen here at North Kingstown. I want to be able to begin a lesson with an interesting hook, getting my students attention and then holding that attention until the very end of the period. I want to have the time management skills (that I know won't come easy, rather they come with experience) to plan my class to end a few minutes early, and then use those few minutes to go over the main ideas of the lesson and assess whether my students actually learned the "important" information that I wanted them to learn from my lesson. While I know that all this will not be easy, I am very willing to throw myself into my work, learning from my mistakes and correcting them as I go along.